CHAPTER XVI
BLISTER AS DEUS EX MACHINA
Blister Haines found an old pair of chaps for Bob Dillon and lent him a buckskin bronco. Also, he wrote a note addressed to Harshaw, of the Slash Lazy D, and gave it to the boy.
“He’ll put you to ridin’, Ed will. The rest’s up to you. D-don’t you forget you’re made in the l-likeness of God. When you feel like crawlin’ into a hole s-snap that red haid up an’ keep it up.”
Bob grew very busy extricating a cockle burr from the mane of the buckskin. “I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me, Mr. Haines,” he murmured, beet red.
“Sho! Nothin’ a-tall. I’m always lookin’ for to get a chance to onload advice on some one. Prob’ly I was meant to be a grandma an’ got mixed in the shuffle. Well, boy, don’t weaken. When in doubt, hop to it.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll try.”
“Don’t w-worry about things beforehand. Nothin’s ever as bad as you figure it’s goin’ to be. A lickin’ don’t last but a few minutes, an’ if you get b-busy enough it’s the other fellow that’s liable to absorb it. Watch that r-rampageous scalawag Dud Hollister an’ do like he does.”
“Yes, sir.”
“An’ don’t forget that every m-mornin’ begins a new day. Tha’s all, son.”